KILKENNY CHAMBER BUSINESS AWARDS 2017
OFFICIAL APPLICATION FORM
Congratulations! You have been nominated for the prestigious Kilkenny Chamber Business Awards. This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase your business and to receive due recognition of your achievements.
The Kilkenny Business Awards has become the most prestigious celebration of business success in Kilkenny and culminates in a glittering black tie awards ceremony at the 5 star Lyrath Estate Hotel on Saturday 25th November 2017.
All successful entrants will receive unrivalled media coverage and promotion of their business through newspaper, radio and online media.
Please complete and return this application form at your earliest convenience to be considered for one of the coveted Kilkenny Business Awards.
This application should be completed as thoroughly as possible. For further information please refer to the Kilkenny Business Awards 2017 Application Criteria, Conditions of Entry & Scoring available for download from the Chamber website
Closing date for receipt of completed application forms is Wednesday, 6th October 2017.
Kilkenny Business Awards 2017,
Kilkenny Chamber Offices
The Malting’s, Tilbury Place,
James St,
KILKENNY
Kindly Sponsored By
Last Year’s Winners
Agri Business of the Year / Hermitage GeneticsCraft Producer of the Year / Clay Creations
Culture / Heritage Tourism Award / Smithwick’s Experience Kilkenny
Customer Service Excellence / The Newpark Hotel
Emerging New Business / Core Claims Services
Employee of the Year / Margaret Clancy - TransferMate
Employer of the Year / Kieran O’Gorman Hair & Day Spa
Environmental Award / Modus Energy
Excellence in Communications / McSweeney Media
Excellence in Hospitality / Left Bank
Exporter of the Year / Hermitage Genetics
Family Business of the Year / M.Mullins Family Butcher
Food & Drink Producer of the Year / O’Shea Farms
Innovation in Business / Eco Life Energy
Best Venue of the Year / Lyrath Estate Hotel & Convention Centre
Information & Communications Technology / CipherTechs EU Ltd.
Investment in Skills, Training & Development of Staff / Rustiq Salon
Retailer of the Year / Grogan & Brown Artisan Butchers
Service Provider of the Year / Kieran O’ Gorman Hair & Day Spa
Small Business of the Year / RD Plumbing & Heating
Lifetime Achievement Award / Kathleen Moran
President’s Award / Paddy Kenna
Overall Business of the Year / Hermitage Genetics
What They Said
“Entering for the Kilkenny Business Awards was a tremendous experience for Hermitage Genetics in 2016. It forced us to stand back from our business and analyse what we do and how we do it and this proved to be a valuable learning experience for us.
Winning the Award for Overall Business of the Year was a fantastic endorsement for all of our staff who have worked so hard over the years and helped make the business what it is today. Kilkenny Chamber were thoroughly professional and very supportive to us throughout the whole process and I would strongly encourage all Kilkenny businesses to get involved”.
Ned Nolan, Hermitage Genetics
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“Winning the ‘Excellence in Communications’ category at the 2016 awards catapulted McSweeney Media into the limelight and I’m delighted to report that company revenue has grown significantly since. We immediately added news of our award win in the form of a banner at the bottom of our emails. We shared news of our success on various social media platforms and mailshotted all of our clients to share our good fortune. Featuring the joint Glanbia and Chamber logos on all electronic correspondence has helped us to stand out, to grow our international profile, win higher value projects and ultimately increase revenues by as much as 30 per cent so far this year.
The Awards process encouraged us to really focus on our strengths, address any weaknesses, to plan for the future and ensure that we meet the targets and the goals we set ourselves in our presentation to the expert judging panel. We plan to compete again this year and would strongly encourage other firms to follow suit”.
Neans McSweeney, Owner/Director of McSweeney Media Ltd
APPLICATION FORM
NOTE:
Please refer to LINKfor a description of each category (see full Category Descriptions). Businesses entering the awards are asked to thoroughly complete sections 1 – 6 where applicable. Within section 5, some questions may not apply to your industry sector and can be left blank.
Those individuals entering under the Employee of the Year categories please complete sections 1, 2 and 6 below.
- AWARD CATEGORIES
Please select up to three categories that you wish to enter.
☐AGRI BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
☐FOOD & DRINK PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
☐EXPORTER OF THE YEAR
☐EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNICATIONS
☐INNOVATION IN BUSINESS
☐EXCELLENCE IN HOSPITALITY
☐CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE
☐SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR
☐RETAILER OF THE YEAR
☐INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)
☐EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR
☐EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR
☐CULTURE/HERITAGE TOURISM AWARD
☐CRAFT PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
☐FAMILY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
☐EMERGING NEW BUSINESS
☐SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
☐INVESTMENT IN SKILLS, TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT OF STAFF
☐ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD
☐CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce undertakes to treat as strictly confidential all information provided to it in this Application Form. Furthermore Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce shall not at any time use any information provided for any other purpose other than in connection with the evaluation of the company and/or individual providing that information for an award for which it has been nominated.
- BUSINESS DETAILS
BUSINESS STRUCTURE
Sole Trader:☐ Partnership: ☐ Limited Company:☐ Franchise:☐
Co-operative: ☐ Local Government:☐ Multi-National:☐
Not for profit: ☐Registered Charity: ☐
- FINANCIAL DETAILS
Please detail your annual turnover (All data supplied will remain confidential).
2017 (Projected)
Up to €300K ☐ €300K - > €1M ☐ €1M- €3M ☐ > €3M☐
Please indicate the percentage by which your turnover increased or decreased since 2014.
+ % or - %
- If applicable to your business, please confirm what % of your business turnover (if any) comes from exporting outof Ireland.
- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SPECIFICINDUSTRY SECTORS
6. ADDITIONAL APPLICATION DETAILS
I confirm this application is completed honestly and accurately
Signature of Applicant
Role in Business Date
Check list for Applicants
☐ Selected up to three categories for nomination
☐ Thoroughly completed application form
☐ Additional support information, brochures etc.
☐ Corporate Logo
☐ 3 high resolution business images
☐ 50 word company or individual biography
☐ Save the date – Panel Interview Wednesday 25thOctober 2017
Award Ceremony Saturday November 25th 2017.
IMPORTANT: Please provide a copy of your corporate logo, a 50 word company or individual biography (if not already included under Section 2 Business Details) and 3 images via email to accompany your application to . We suggest an individual profile image, business product or service image and business exterior image if possible. Please provide the logo and images in a high resolution format as they will be used on large screens for the presentation at the award ceremony on November 25th 2017.
For those submitting applications via post or hand delivery, please email images and bios to or include a disc or USB with this information.
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